Support workers suggest the government spend a day with them to understand why an increase to 82 cents per kilometre is a joke.

The phone has been ringing off the hook at a Timaru café, but many of the callers are trying to reach the local hospital after Google's AI mixed up their phone numbers.

A government document says it is a "narrative" that hundreds of New Zealanders live without shelter, and there is "no evidence" to validate that.